Author: Adrien Fournier

TT 4-7-2023
By Betty Olsen

Meet our new vice-president of the Tennis Club.  Her name is Ruth Domingo Liu and she was born and raised in San Jose, a hometown girl.  She went to Overfelt High and graduated from San Jose State majoring in business.

Ruth has had a varied career in business, but found her specialty in HR.  When she and Robert moved to the villages in 2021, she was retired, but when sister Nancy Domingo, a Special Ed teacher, said “Help, education needs people who care,” Ruth answered the call.  Ruth admits she was getting bored in retirement.  So now Ruth works at Evergreen College in the HR department full time.  She admits the ten minute commute was enticing and she was hired in one day!
Ruth is from a family of seven, 3 girls and 4 boys.  Her family’s story is one of many immigration stories.  Her Pilipino father came to the US at age 16, worked hard  and was able to purchase a house.  He then traveled to the Philippines to find a bride.  He was successful and  returned to San Jose to raise 7 children in that house, Ruth being the oldest.  As the oldest, Ruth  was given early responsibility and remembers standing on a stool in the kitchen helping her mother probably at age 5.
Ruth recently returned from a European birthday trip with family and friends to Paris and Barcelona.  She traveled with a group of 10!  What an organization feat that must have been!
I asked Ruth when she started tennis and she said she and sister Nancy were on their high school team along with close friend Mila who is often seen on the village courts.  I believe Ruth and Nancy were part of our Rusty Jump Start program.
We are lucky to have her as our VP.                                                                                                                                      
And don’t forget the upcoming Scholarship Tournament and dinner Saturday, April 29 at Foothill.  Please mark your calendars and watch for more information in the Villager and Fast Lane.

Tennis Talk
By Sherry Benz

The Tennis Club’s annual Open House is right around the corner and you don’t want to miss it! Join us on the courtsTuesday, March 28th at 1:00-3:30 PM for an afternoon of exciting activity planned by our Villages Tennis Professional, Brett Foreman. He describes it as “Tennis Olympics with a Carnival Theme.” Not sure if there will be medals or stuffed animals!

Tennis Anywhere in Los Gatos is providing demos of some of the newest racquets for you to try and they are offering discounts on equipment. Come shod in tennis shoes for “on the court” fun. There will be prizes, games and the traditional strawberry shortcake!!! No reservations required. Questions: Call Harry Soin (harrysoin@gmail.com) or Nancy Spisar (nancy.spisar@gmail.com)

Jump Start kicks off at the Tennis Club Open House. Thanks to our Villager “experts” Gail & Mike Tuft, Jim Murphy and Peggy Siedel who are returning to help you learn and improve your strokes. They are some of the best players in our club and have a wealth of information to share with you. Jump Start will meet on successive Tuesday afternoons beginning April 4th for 10 weeks at 5:00-6:00 PM. Don’t have a racquet? No worry, we have racquets donated by our members and would love to give you one. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn, meet others at your playing level and … all free of cost! Questions: Call Sherry Benz (408-223-6882 or sabenz@sbcglobal.net.)

The Prescott charity tournament was held Saturday, March 18 and the results will be reported next week.

Also, League Tennis is off to a rainy start, but be sure to come watch Saturday & Sunday, March 25 and 26, and Wednesday, Thursday, March 29 and 30……all at 1:30pm

Tennis Talk 2023-02-17
By Betty Olsen

V.T.L.

Roy Pennington is bringing his Albuquerque Tennis Club experience to our Villages TC starting March 1st. If you recall, at our Christmas holiday party, Roy explained Team Tennis amongst our own club and some 40 players were interested and signed-up. Since then additional sign-ups brought the total to 81 members interested and ready to play.

Roy, Jim Murphy and Peggy Seidel formed the committee to separate the 81 players into approximate categories so that each team would have members with a variety of abilities and matches would between equal abilities. Six women were asked to captain this first Team Tennis schedule.

On Thursday, February 2, the 6 captains plus the Team Tennis committee met to choose teams. The team captains are:

#1. Akiko Giordono . #2. Betty Olsen #3. Sherry Benz #4. Julie Hawkinson #5,. Joy Rem #6. Suzi Hathaway

Each match will consist of 6 players: #1 – A man + A woman, #2. A man or woman + B man or woman, #3. B man + B woman.

Villages Tennis League schedule is from March 1 – April 27. Mark your calendars and come out to cheer on the players. We may even schedule a playoff.

By Betty Olsen
Tennis Talk 2/2

The first Tennis Club tournament of 2023 is the Prescott Tournament in honor of Phil Prescott, the man responsible for the building of our courts 5 and 6 in 1998. Since only a handful of current club members were here when that happened, I felt it appropriate to enlighten the rest of us who were not here in 1998 to know about Phil Prescott. This article is in answer to the question often heard: “Who and what is Prescott?”

Phil Prescott was born in 1914 in Fresno and entered Stanford in 1932. He graduated in 1936 and married Wilma Knapp, a Stanford classmate in 1937. Phil graduated with an engineering degree and spent most of his working years at North American Aviation in southern California. While at Stanford they became friends with David and Lu Packard, the David Packard responsible for the Monterey Aquarium and refurbishing and remodeling San Jose’s California Theater into an opera house and for symphonic orchestras.

Not sure when Phil and Wilma took up tennis, but in 1966 they did a People-to-People tennis tour of Europe. People-to-People tours were started by Dwight Eisenhower to share cultures for better understanding. They played tennis with local clubs all over Europe.

Phil retired in 1975 at age 61 and then moved to The Villages in 1979 to be close to children, grandchildren and Stanford. Phil was President of the Tennis Club in 1984 and I would like to quote from Phil’s Family History book: “We put on four or five tournaments during the year and had potluck suppers following the tournaments. For the Fourth of July parade, the club took the newly-acquired ball machine, placed it on the back of a truck and added bike wheels to make it look like a cannon. The ball machine spewed tennis balls out to awaiting tennis players. They would in turn hit the balls to other players on each side of the truck who would then catch the balls and feed them back into the ball machine. It was the hit of the parade.”

Next week, look for the conclusion of Phil Prescott’s story.

Tennis Talk
By Mary Ringel
For publication: 1/26/23

If you don’t know Jay Desai and you like to play tennis, you will meet him soon! Jay is a man of many interests; you will find him walking the waterfalls, playing Bocce ball, Pickleball, Billiards, Ping Pong, Cards, Model Trains, as well as painting and sketching. But, his greatest joy is getting people to play tennis. He will offer you free advice only if you ask him for help. He will then recruit you to play Trash Talk Tennis (TTT) on Sunday mornings. At his next TTT he plans to have a 15-minute Macarena warm up with music. Be advised though, he loves to, as he likes to put it ,“keep things interesting.” So, if you agree to play with him, you need to be prepared to receive the following from Jay: a killer kick serve, a dynamite drop shot, a miraculous on the-line lob shot and loads of laughter. Jay has a big heart! But, don’t be late to the court or he will tell you with a serious grin, you owe him $1.00 for every minute you’re late. He’s kidding, of course! If you want to make him smile, here are two of his favorites: NY Cheesecake and JW Black. After a gift like that, he might even take you for a ride in his 1930’s replica Ford Roadster golf cart.

In 2014, when Jay arrived in the Villages from New Jersey, he didn’t know a single tennis player. He met the late Gordon Knapp on the first visit to view his new home and Gordon took him out on the court for an hour. He met Bill Leonard shortly after and was soon plugged into regular play. Jay has often shared how they both were there for him, encouraging him to play. Now, he’s paying it forward and doing the same for others. Jay claims to have played with 150+ tennis players at the Villages. We don’t doubt it!

In 2015, he brought his New Jersey version of Team Tennis to the Villages. Every Sunday, at 8:30am, players of all levels enjoy Trash Talk Tennis with Jay. Trash Talking is optional of course! If you want to get in on the fun, contact Jay at jaydesai530@gmail.com. Just say, please add me to your list of players. You will not regret it. Don’t be late!

Tennis Talk 1/12/23

By Sherry Benz

Our 2023 Tennis Club Executive Board of Directors was unanimously approved at the December 4th Holiday Dinner Dance (see picture). The out-going Board is due many thanks for a terrific job in 2022. The Club came back at full speed once Covid gave us a break and it was evident how much we enjoy playing, socializing and working together.

Special kudos to Peggy Seidel (President) for her leadership and countless hours. Thanks to Akiko Giordano (Master Scheduler), Penny Barcellos (Membership), Liz Kung (Communication Director), Tina Parsley (Treasurer) and Linda DuMont (Hospitality) for agreeing to serve another year. And, a big welcome to Randy Shaw (President), Donna Gilmour (Vice President), Marty Funcell (Court Manager), Roy Pennington (Secretary), and Karen Hillis (Tournament Director).

The 2023 schedule is set and promises to be a fun-filled year both on the courts and socially. Check the website for dates, times and places. The first tennis event is the Prescott Tournament on March 18th. Mark your calendars now! The Prescott will be followed by the Open House on March 28th which is an exciting annual event, open to all Villagers and complete with strawberry shortcake! Watch Tennis Talk and check the website (villagestennisclub.org) for details.

The VTL (Villages Tennis League) will begin in early Spring If you would like to participate in this “in house” league lasting 10 sessions, contact Peggy Seidel (713-398-7955), Jim Murphy (408-274-4195) or Roy Pennington (505-410-3449). Space is limited!

TENNIS TALK 01/05/23

VTL
 By Roy Pennington

What is VTL?
 It is the Villages Tennis League. So what is that?

The Villages Tennis Club Board of Directors has recently decided to form a tennis league that will function within The Villages to include participation of all levels of tennis (except absolute beginners**) with individual teams of 10-12 members. The VTL will provide an avenue for more members to play tennis and be part of a team and where they can mingle with other tennis players they might not otherwise come to know.

Teams will consist of men and women of all skill levels, but matches will be organized so that play will be between players of similar abilities. There will be men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles matches at each bi-weekly session. League activities will be conducted around midday to avoid messing with the popular morning court reservation times and one of the two days of each week’s play will be held on a weekend day to make it easier to participate for those who are not yet retired.

The VTL will provide an alternative for team play other than what the USTA offers. The VTL will also eliminate the extensive travel and expense associated with participating on a USTA team. Following a registration period, teams will be drafted and play will commence by early spring. It is expected that well more than 50 people will participate this spring in the first 10-week session!! Based on its probable success, the VTL will be held again in the fall.

Registration is simple and will remain open through much of January. For information or to register, contact one of the committee members (Peggy Seidel, Jim Murphy, and Roy Pennington).

**Villagers who have not played very much over the years, or not at all, are encouraged to come to the Tennis Club’s Open House on March 28, 2023 and sign up for a ten-week Jumpstart program of tennis lessons provided free, starting right after the Open House, by experienced TC tennis players (and held at 5:30 on Tuesday afternoons). After the ten weeks of Jumpstart, we offer not only a professional (Brett Foreman) to help you improve, but also twice a week drop-in tennis on Monday and Friday afternoons where experienced members offer supervised practice, practice, practice (called Open Play) with a guarantee of improvement to get you into the VTL fast!

Tennis Talk 12/29/2022
By Phyllis Mueller

Santa Visits The Villages

Hey Santa, tell me about a favorite visit of yours? “Sure Virginia, that is easy. There is a very special community called THE VILLAGES in San Jose, California, that is the perfect pit stop for my reindeers. They love to chat with their deer cousins while I distribute gifts. This retirement gated community was started in 1967 on 1,200 acres with over 4,000 residents over 55. They all seem so happy and wave to each other all the time. The have a ton of activities like Pickleball, Bocce, Swimming, Dancing, Singing, Exercise Groups, Hiking, and the one group that I met that day, Tennis Ladies.

The Villages Tennis Club was organized in 1972 and only had two ladies that could play on their 2 courts, so they taught two more how to play and had their first foursome! They now have 6 courts available for all Villagers. I found some tennis ladies in uniforms having their picture taken. They were celebrating their USTA League win and planning to have their playoffs in Fresno. I told them to be sure and eat some raisins there! They invited me to be in their photo and I was delighted even though I did not have on tennis shoes! They explained how active this Villages Tennis Club is and even give Scholarships to a local High School tennis team! Many close friendships are made while hitting that little yellow ball. This club even helps rusty players return to the game with lessons called, Jump Start.

What a great visit I had several years ago and my Reindeer insist I make this a regular pit stop! So you might see me again and I wish you and yours many HAPPY HOLIDAYS.”

By Tatiana Pierce
Tennis Talk 12/15/22

We have been good all year. We played when the sun burnt our skin, when it rained, when our muscles cried out in protest to all the abuse. We persevered and won tournaments. We deserved a good Holiday Party, and we got one!

The “Jingle Jingle It’s Time to Mingle” Committee worked relentlessly, planning, organizing, wrapping tons of gift boxes to put under the tree. You might think it is impossible to wrap a gift like joy, good spirit, holiday cheer. Not for them. The center pieces on the tables were works of art worthy of display at De Young!

Many thanks to Linda Alejandro- DuMont, Tina Parsley, Barbara Moore, Liz Kung, Andrea Alvarez, Mary Ringel and all the others who pitched in. You set the mood and the tone and we, being good team players, followed through. We mingled, we ate like champions and drank to the point we felt confident that we looked graceful on the dance floor.

The party gave us a chance to see old friends and to make new ones. We shared memories of glorious moments on the courts in 2022. Putting on the wall slides of all the heroics was a brilliant idea. Our lovely President , Peggy Seidel, enlightened us with the exciting plans for 2023. We learned that there are better things ahead and another chance for some of us to get it right: new website, tennis lessons, new tennis teams.

The party was definitely a memorable success full of glitter, laughter and fun.